BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Region 6 will review the existing minimum salaries of private workers in Western Visayas.
The result of the review will be the basis for the granting of the Pandemic Emergency Relief Allowance, especially for workers affected by the Covid pandemic, RTWPB labor representative Wennie Sancho said.
Earlier, the RTWPB sought the opinion of the National Wages and Productivity Council on whether or not the PERA sought by the workers should be approved.
In response, the NWPC told the RTWPB 6 to review the socioeconomic condition of private sector employees in Western Visayas.
Among the factors to be considered before granting the PERA are the ramifications of the pandemic and restrictions that resulted in increased unemployment and underemployment, Sancho said.
He said that another factor is the implementation of flexible working arrangements due to the closure of many business establishments in the region.
Sancho added that the deterioration of the workers’ purchasing power justifies the need for an immediate economic relief, like the PERA, amid the pandemic.
Records from the General Alliance of Workers Associations showed that the amount to be restored to the purchasing power of the workers is P90 per day, but Sancho said labor is asking for P25 per day which is only 38 percent of P90.
Sancho said consultations on the approval of the PERA will be conducted soon. In Western Visayas, minimum wage workers are earning from P310 to P395 per day, depending on their work classification under Wage Order 25.*
